Question for Genious:Dell Dimension 8100 Extremely Slow

[Rahman]

Hello Experts,
I had one of my friend complain about his Dell Dimension 8100.He
brought it to me so that I can take a look at it.
It was a Windows ME / 128 RDRAM/60 Gig /1.6Ghz.
I was like ME, noooooooooooooo but she was an old lady didnt wanna hurt
her feelings so figured i will take a look at it and see what I can do
Issues.
Everytime it would start it would go striaght to SafeMode and restart
it self.
I decided I will just format the whole hard drive and reload the baby
with XP.Well first I figured I will try my best to recover the data so
took the hard drive out made it slave and tried to grab the data,but
couldnt exactly comeup with proper jumper settings so gave up on
that.So I put the drive as it is and started to reformat the drive and
load XP and then all the misery started.
I just put the default jumper settings back on the hard drive ( which I
think was Cable Select)First install took 46 hrs and finally XP came
up and it was extremely slow,just the first startup took 45 mins,I
have reformated many computers before but havent seen a behavior like
this.I was patient I figured I will run windows update everything
should be OK but couldnt get connected to internet.(Ethernet drivers
were loaded fine in device manager just this check took 20 mins)
Then I figured it was the RAM and first time heard abt RDRAM so finally
found the right vendor and bought the most expensive RAM in my life I
bought two 256MB chips and now the system has 128+518=640MB RAM and
guess what system is still running at same speed.
I have no clue whats going on, I flashed BIOS,ran diagnostics on
harddrive and memory got sucess results but still system is slow.
So finally figured I will just reinstall XP again as new memory is
installed and guess what its been 3 days and its still installing.This
morning it said 6 mins to finish the install and its almost time for me
to go home and it still says 4 mins to finish install (Saving Settings)
I have no idea what in the world is making this system run so slow.I
ran every diagnostic possible,hard drive looks ok ,memory is good, i
can see it says memoy 640 in bios.
Any one had an issue like this with Dell Dimension 8100 ...Crappiest
system of all time ...
I was helping a friend by fixing this machine ,thought i will take it
over the weekend fix it and return it trust me its been 2 months and
iam still trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with it.
I can call my friend and junk it but I have put so much time into it
,wanna know what the heck is wrong with this machine.

 

[Malke]

Hello Experts,
I had one of my friend complain about his Dell Dimension 8100.He
brought it to me so that I can take a look at it.
It was a Windows ME / 128 RDRAM/60 Gig /1.6Ghz.
I was like ME, noooooooooooooo but she was an old lady didnt wanna
hurt her feelings so figured i will take a look at it and see what I
can do Issues.
Everytime it would start it would go striaght to SafeMode and restart
it self.
I decided I will just format the whole hard drive and reload the baby
with XP.Well first I figured I will try my best to recover the data so
took the hard drive out made it slave and tried to grab the data,but
couldnt exactly comeup with proper jumper settings so gave up on
that.So I put the drive as it is and started to reformat the drive and
load XP and then all the misery started.
I just put the default jumper settings back on the hard drive ( which
I
think was Cable Select)First install took 46 hrs and finally XP came
up and it was extremely slow,just the first startup took 45 mins,I
have reformated many computers before but havent seen a behavior like
this.I was patient I figured I will run windows update everything
should be OK but couldnt get connected to internet.(Ethernet drivers
were loaded fine in device manager just this check took 20 mins)
Then I figured it was the RAM and first time heard abt RDRAM so
finally found the right vendor and bought the most expensive RAM in my
life I bought two 256MB chips and now the system has 128+518=640MB RAM
and guess what system is still running at same speed.
I have no clue whats going on, I flashed BIOS,ran diagnostics on
harddrive and memory got sucess results but still system is slow.
So finally figured I will just reinstall XP again as new memory is
installed and guess what its been 3 days and its still installing.This
morning it said 6 mins to finish the install and its almost time for
me to go home and it still says 4 mins to finish install (Saving
Settings) I have no idea what in the world is making this system run
so slow.I ran every diagnostic possible,hard drive looks ok ,memory is
good, i can see it says memoy 640 in bios.
Any one had an issue like this with Dell Dimension 8100 ...Crappiest
system of all time ...
I was helping a friend by fixing this machine ,thought i will take it
over the weekend fix it and return it trust me its been 2 months and
iam still trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with it.
I can call my friend and junk it but I have put so much time into it
,wanna know what the heck is wrong with this machine.

Arrgghhh!!! You should have left it alone! *You* are the one who cr*pped
it up! We'll never know what was wrong with it now. You are right that
you have no "clue what's going on". I usually try to be a lot more
polite than this, but you should not be playing tech with someone
else's machine. Take the machine to a real professional computer repair
shop (not your local version of BigStoreUSA) and give them the RAM you
bought and have them straighten out this poor lady's machine.

Malke

 

[Guest]

first you say "his Dell Dimension" and then it is "but she was an old lady".

kind of gives you a clue of the problem!!

then you admit it." I have no clue whats going on".

So. yes. it is best to take to repair shop or someone with more experience!!

 

[Malke]

first you say "his Dell Dimension" and then it is "but she was an old
lady".

kind of gives you a clue of the problem!!

then you admit it." I have no clue whats going on".

So. yes. it is best to take to repair shop or someone with more
experience!!

You know, I worried about my response to this poster after I'd posted
it. I usually try to be nice, but his post made me so angry because in
my business I see this a lot. Some guy (and I'm sorry, but it's usually
a guy) thinks he knows tech and completely hoses someone else's
machine. Anyone who doesn't even know what RDRAM is has no business
playing tech on anyone's machine except his own. And most probably the
perpetrator will not swallow his pride and do the right thing because
his ego will get in the way. I can only hope for the "old lady" that
Rahman sucks it up and behaves responsibly.

Malke

 

[R. McCarty]

This is a topic I sometimes want to jump in on, but I figure I've
already got enough "Rants" on record to embarrass me for a long time.
I see too many Systems mucked up by:
(A.) "Techy Friends"
(B.) Neighborhood Computer Wizard
(C.) Unqualified Shops, Technicians
(D.) Even "Idiots" who do it via a Remote Assistance session.

Our business is the modern day equivalent of a "User Car" lot. It does
not matter what Certifications or Training they tell you they have. We
(Small Independent operations) are wedged between the "Big Store",
Geeks-on-Call and the indifferent large providers who want a yearly
contract to be your support facility.

99% of the time this newsgroup provides good, solid PC advice. If
further assistance is required - find a small, "REPUTABLE" Computer
shop or service.

 

[Plato]

I had one of my friend complain about his Dell Dimension 8100.He
brought it to me so that I can take a look at it.

Next time find a phone book. Look for Computer | Sales And Service

 

[Rahman]

DO ME A FAVOR GUYS NEXT TIME BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE POST READ THE HEADER
THIS WAS A QUESTION ONLY FOR GENIUS NOT FOR SISSIES OR WHINERS
I DONT NEED YOUR DAMN ADVICE WHERE TO GO IF PC DOESNT WORK.

 

[Malke]

DO ME A FAVOR GUYS NEXT TIME BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE POST READ THE
HEADER THIS WAS A QUESTION ONLY FOR GENIUS NOT FOR SISSIES OR WHINERS
I DONT NEED YOUR DAMN ADVICE WHERE TO GO IF PC DOESNT WORK.

Keep your day job, Sunshine. And let's hope it isn't in the tech
industry.

Malke

 

[Guest]

Ah, the tercentennial poster child for my Essay on Criticism.

 

[RA]

DO ME A FAVOR GUYS NEXT TIME BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE POST READ THE
HEADER THIS WAS A QUESTION ONLY FOR GENIUS NOT FOR SISSIES OR WHINERS
I DONT NEED YOUR DAMN ADVICE WHERE TO GO IF PC DOESNT WORK.

I don't see any replies from sissies or whiners. You got excellent
evaluations of your issue and spot on advice.

 

[Uncle Joe]

I am a genius but it doesn't take a genius to realize that you are
a seriously screwed-up dude. You not only don't have a clue as
to what you're doing; but you're insensitive, rude, and obnoxious.
By the way, I am a retired soldier--an Army Ranger and paratrooper.
Don't even go near your sissy term with me. Grrrrrrr.

Did you give your friend the opportunity to comment before you
formatted HIS hard drive? Perhaps he had irreplaceable items
on that hard drive that needed to be saved before you cavalierly
formatted HIS hard drive. You didn't care, did you? Couldn't let
little details such as that get in the way of your ego, could you?

Or, did you give the old lady the opportunity to comment before you
formatted HER hard drive? Perhaps she had irreplaceable items
on that hard drive that needed to be saved before you cavalierly
formatted HER hard drive. You didn't care, did you? Couldn't let
little details such as that get in the way of your ego, could you?

Or, perhaps you are so stupid that you can't tell the difference between
"my friend" and "an old lady"? Or, as Mark Twain once said, a person
disinclined to tell the truth just can't keep his story straight no matter how
much weed he smokes.

You think the default jumper setting was Cable Select? You didn't write
it down before you mucked with the drive? For shame! Next time, try
using a digital camera to take pics of the settings before you muck them.
This assumes that you can print out a picture in less than 46 hours.

No, the misery didn't start when you tried to reformat the drive and
load XP. The misery started when some trusting soul (a male friend or an
old lady) put his/her laptop in your undeserving hands. They would have\
been better served to toss the laptop under the wheels of a concrete truck.

You were going to reload that "baby" with XP? Excuse me but were you
going to install a retail copy of XP for them out of the goodness of your heart,
or were you going to charge them for XP after the fact, or were you going
to install a pirated copy of XP on the laptop? We're not clear on your thinking
here.

Why would you wait 46 hours for the first install to complete? That is 200%
over the top Nuts. If XP hasn't finished in one hour--okay, let's be charitable--
two hours, something is seriously frenched up. Cut off the install at the knees,
examine your procedures, and start over.

Just heard about RDRAM? Welcome to the club? None of us have known
about it for more than six years. Have you heard about floppy drives yet?

You flashed the other person's BIOS?!! After all the horrid mistakes you made,
I wouldn't trust you to flash my mother-in-law at the local community park.

TWO months?! You've kept someone else's machine for two months and still
didn't resolve the issues? I'm not a pastor but I'd say there's an excellent
chance that you'll roast in hell. I'm sure St. Peter can't wait until you arrive at the
Pearly Gates? "Well, was the laptop owned by a male friend or an old lady? You
keep switching your tune."

"Any one had an issue like this with Dell Dimension 8100 ...Crappiest system of
all time ..." Be it resolved by everyone who read your original post that the 8100
never stood a chance when it fell into your hands. You turned a functional laptop
into a piece of mush. And it took you two months to accomplish this? You're not
only totally incompetent to touch electronic gear; you're very slow. If you had
been one of my paratrooper trainees, and if I had pushed you out of the plane, it
would probably take you two days to drop 500 feet. Damn, boy, you are slow!

Please do the world a favor: never again work anyone else's computer. Buy used
PCs and screw them up until your heart's content, but you have no business harming
others. If only your technical competence and ego were in alignment...

Sorry for the rant but you pissed me off. Can you tell?!

 

[Uncle Joe]

No, you're wrong, sir. Most people did read your header. Most people who frequent
this newsgroup saw your request for input from "genious" types so they felt free to
comment. There are many genious people but true geniuses such as yours truly are rare.

Oh, we already know where you're going to go. Thanks for sharing that with us.

 

[Rahman]

DANGGGGG!! I WOULD HAVE MADE YOU WRITE A BOOK ON ME IF HAD MORE THAN 4
LINES IN MY REPLY...
LOOOOSER.....STOP GIVING UR FREE ADVICES

 

[Uncle Joe]

DANGGGGG!! I WOULD HAVE MADE YOU WRITE A BOOK ON ME IF HAD MORE THAN 4
LINES IN MY REPLY...
LOOOOSER.....STOP GIVING UR FREE ADVICES

THEN QUIT ASKING FOR FREE ADVICE.

 

[arrogant basterd]

What a bunch of arrogant bastards. The fella came for advise you bastards respond with arrogance !